Room to Dream

That night, Mia’s family, along with Lupe and her parents, Hank, and the others who work at the Calivista, celebrate over dinner. As the adults cook, Mia opens a rejection letter from the Los Angeles Gazette. With a heavy heart, she adds it to the pile. After her piece on Proposition 187 was published in the Los Angeles Times, Mia was determined to be published again. All year, she mailed her opinion pieces to papers all over the country, but they have all been rejected. The letter from the Gazette is her 79th rejection. No one else knows about her effort.

At dinner, Mia’s mom expresses her excitement about becoming a substitute teacher. This could be the first step toward saving for a house with a picket fence: the American Dream. When they run out of dipping sauce for the spring rolls, Dad offers to go buy more at the Asian Mart. Mom tells him it closed, along with several other locally owned shops. The neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, with small businesses struggling to compete with new mega corporations.

In the background, the TV newscaster covers the OJ Simpson trial and the resulting increase in racial tension in the United States. Hank gets frustrated, telling his friends, “Every time something like that happens […] it’s like a presumption of guild that extends to all of us Black folks” (18). Mia recalls the incident with the photographer, and she tells the group what happened. Hank says he needs to escape it all, so Dad invites him to join them in China. Once assured the motel will be okay without him for a while, he agrees to come.

Mia and Hank start to make a list of items they will need to bring. Hank mentions toilet paper, since his travel guide mentioned China doesn’t use it. Taken aback, Mia tells him that they do have toilet paper then excuses herself to her room.

Hank comes to apologize for making assumptions about China, and Mia forgives him. She also opens up to him about the pile of rejection letters in her closet, and Hank urges her to share her troubles more often: “Mia, you can’t just bottle up the bad stuff and only tell people the good” (22). Mia is still discouraged, but Hank insists that her perseverance will pay off. Mia feels more hopeful about her writing and the potential creative inspiration she’ll get on her trip to China.

The night that Mia, Jason, and Lupe are meant to go see the movie Toy Story and have Christmas dinner together, Lupe calls to tell Mia that she’s sick. Mia is disappointed, “bummed [to be] seeing [her] first movie in an American theater without [Lupe]” (25), but leaves to meet Jason alone. Toy Story is everything the two hoped for and more, and they talk about it all the way to the restaurant. At Jade Zen, Mia notices that the congee shop she and her parents used to frequent has vanished. Mia exclaims, “Oh my God, Jade Zen ate the congee shop!” (27). Jason is not nearly as bothered. His father is in big business, so he prefers chains, whereas Mia, whose parents are independent business owners, has the opposite preference.

After they eat, Jason gives Mia her present: a gold key on a chain. As she reaches up to put it on, Jason leans across the table and kisses her on the lips. Mia, who doesn’t like him romantically, is horrified. She puts the chain on the table and leaves the restaurant.

After a long flight, the Tangs and Hank land in Beijing. The Tangs get in the national line while Hank gets in a separate one for foreigners. Mia thinks, “I [don’t] feel like a Chinese national, but […] for the first time in forever, everybody looked like me” (35). The man at immigration welcomes them back for their stay, and they exit the lines to find their family.

Mia and the others are greeted by Aunt Juli (Mom’s sister), Uncle Jo, a few other aunts and uncles as well as the cousins: Shen, Bo, and Lian. Mia greets her cousins as she would her own siblings. Growing up, they were like her brothers due to China’s one-child policy. Shen was especially close to Mia, and she is ecstatic to reunite with him. She looks at Mom, who “burst[s] into tears at the sight of her sisters” (37). Amid the joyful reunions, one of Mia’s aunts notices Hank.

Aunt Juli asks who he is, and Dad introduces him to everyone. Suddenly, Bo and Lian jump up and down, trying to touch Hank’s curly hair. Bo and Lian tell her in Chinese that they’ve never seen a Black person. Mia is mortified at her cousins’ behavior and grateful that Hank cannot understand what they are saying.

China has changed a lot since Mia left. The streets are filled with American cars and high rises that resemble the ones in Anaheim. However, Lao Lao, her grandmother on Mom’s side, is making her favorite traditional Chinese dinner that night. Mia is glad that some things have stayed the same. Her family expected Mia to prefer burgers now, and Hank offers to cook his own famous saltine burgers while he’s visiting.

Lao Lao (Grandma) and Lao Ye (Grandpa) welcome them all inside the “siheyuan, a traditional Beijing courtyard home” (42). Mia walks through the courtyard and reminisces about her life in China: it’s as if she’s watching “[a] million pockets of [her] past, flashing before [her] eyes” (43).

Inside, Lao Lao has prepared a feast. The family laughs it off when Hank uses a rubber band to make the chopsticks easier to use, but as soon as he hands one to Mia, the family questions why she can’t use them. Shen offers to get them spoons, but Mom insists Mia will, and knows how to, use the chopsticks. Embarrassed, Mia asks if she can be excused to go to the bathroom.

Shen takes her outside, and she steps “up to the porcelain edges of the squat-let” (47). She slips and falls in the middle of the hole in the ground, soaking herself up to her knees in poop. She lets out a scream and Shen rushes in to help. He guides her back to the house to get cleaned up.

Inside, Lao Lao and Mom clean her up while her cousins tease her for not being able to use chopsticks or a Chinese bathroom. Mia no longer feels like she fits in. She thinks, “At school I wasn’t white enough. Here I wasn’t Chinese enough” (47). More than ever, she feels like an outsider.

Early the next morning, Mia, Dad, and Hank head out to get jianbings for breakfast. Dad is bursting with excitement to eat his favorite breakfast again and to introduce it to Mia and Hank. Mia takes a bite: the “softness of the egg melt[s] on [her] tongue. The crunch of the fried dough mixe[s] perfectly with the kick of the chili pepper and the sweetness of the bean sauce” (51). The combination of flavors is exactly like something Jason would love. They order three more for Lao Lao, Lao Le, and Mom, then head back home.

When they get back, Mia asks to hang out with Shen, who is out of school for the day. With a promise to return for Hank’s famous burgers that night, Mia and Mom go with Shen and Aunt Juli. The two start catching up. Shen complains about how many tutors he has, but Aunt Juli tells Mia that it’s necessary for him to handle the pressure of his prestigious and rigorous school.

At Aunt Juli’s fancy high-rise apartment, they meet the professional cleaner, Auntie Lin. Mia’s heart drops when she notices that Auntie Lin is wearing the sweater Mom bought for Aunt Juli’s Christmas gift. Aunt Juli, who has been wearing more expensive clothing since her husband’s promotion, seems to think it wasn’t good enough for her.

When they’re alone, Shen tells Mia he is bullied at school. His classmates call him “Wrong Pile […] Like I should’ve gotten rejected. That it’s only because of my parents’ influence that my letter ended up in the acceptance pile” (55). Mia feels guilty for not staying in touch with Shen. Mia tells him about the trouble she had back when Jason used to bully her at first, then she tells him about the kiss. Shen comforts her, and Mia is glad to be in China after all. With a friend like Shen, she doesn’t feel so alone.

On the drive back, Aunt Juli tells Mom that she is concerned about their parents getting older and trying to go to the bathroom outside. Aunt Juli wants to know if Mom will chip in to buy them a new apartment. Mom is hesitant; their financial situation hasn’t changed much since they moved. Mia is conflicted: “I [feel] so torn, the tension ripping through me like turbulence on a plane” (60). Before Mia can chime in, Mom agrees to help.

Dad’s mother (Nai Nai), sister Pearl, and brother Lin join for dinner that night. Nai Nai comments on Mia’s darker skin and scolds her parents for letting her tan. She then turns to Hank and says “That guy’s definitely not been avoiding the sun” (61). Mia is furious at her grandmother’s ignorance and leaves with Hank and Shen to help make the burgers.

When they sit down to eat, Nai Nai asks Mia’s parents if they’ll be moving back to China. Mom tells them they’re doing well in the United States, and Mia was published in a newspaper. Aunt Juli is not impressed: “Writing though, is that really a suitable profession for a girl?” (64). Aunt Pearl asks how much money they make, and Dad tells them they have enough, but not so much to make anyone jealous. They mention Mom’s new job, but the family again twists it into yet another problem. According to them, the man should provide for the entire household, and the woman shouldn’t have to work.

After dinner, Mia’s parents discuss how prosperous China is now and wonder if they made the right choice in leaving. Mia, meanwhile, is still fuming from the night’s events. She wonders, “why’d my nai nai have to make that that comment about me getting tan? […] And my lao lao, thinking boys were better at math?” (67). Even though she grew up hearing similar opinions, Mia is now uncomfortable with them. China has changed, but so has she.

On Sunday, Hank and Mia go sightseeing together. While they are out, lots of people think that Hank is a famous movie star, Samuel L. Jackson. Hank and Mia try to explain that he isn’t, but after a while go along with it. A group of men befriends Hank and Mia, and they go for lunch together.

They are greeted by Mr. Fang, the owner of Main Street Grill. Over lunch, Hank learns that the men were “recently let go from their government jobs due to the rapidly changing economy” (71). Mia translates what they said to Hank, and he pays for their lunches. They start to protest, but he does his best Samuel L. Jackson impression, quoting a line from Die Hard: “Listen, I ain’t your partner. I ain’t your neighbor, your brother, or your friend. I’m your total stranger. And today, I am paying for your lunch” (73). The men graciously accept his gift, and Mia revels in this beautiful moment with a group of strangers.

Mia asks to stop by her old neighborhood to look for a kind old man, lovingly nicknamed Popsicle Grandpa. He used to “give kids Popsicles for free if [they] told him what [they] learned that day” (74). Popsicle Grandpa is delighted to see Mia again and pleased to hear Mia is getting an education in the United States. He explains why he values education so much: “I remember when my daughter was just your age, she was such a good student in school. And then one day, she couldn’t go anymore” (77). His daughter grew up during the Cultural Revolution, which was one of the reasons the Tangs left China. He continues, “Millions of young people had to go to the countryside. By the time it was over, it was too hard for her to come back. […] She never got to go to school again” (78).

Mia promises she’ll keep in touch when she leaves China. Popsicle Grandpa tells her his own daughter doesn’t visit much anymore and tells Mia to stay close to her family. With a promise to come back again and visit, Mia and Hank leave Popsicle Grandpa and head back home.